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Sources say 16% of the American population doesn't know where their next meal will come from. In the same vein, many of these people are surviving off the foodstamp diet, which amounts to roughly $4 a day. Watch this attempt by one woman to live on that amount--could you do it? ... Want to try?

Ummm...yes. You can. Our family's budget is about $450-550/mo for our family of four which is two adults and two teenage boys. That amount includes non-food items like TP, laundry and dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. so we are well below the $4/day ($120-124/mo) per person limit you're talking about.

The problem with this video is she bought a head of lettuce and a bottle of salad dressing which put her over her $4 budget, but the lettuce will make 6-8 servings of salad and the dressing has about 20 servings, so these will last much more than one day.

Also, buying fruit in that tiny little cup is the least economical way to buy fruit. Ever. Ditto the bagel--buying a bagel is also the least economical way of buying bread.

I am adamant that we eat 2-3 fruits and/or vegetables at EVERY meal. I am equally adamant about using whole-grains and non-processed or ready-made food. We eat meat 3-4 days a week and our protein for the other 3-4 days a week comes from eggs, dairy and legumes. Preparing food and eating meals are important daily events in our family, with everyone participating. We are well-fed--physically, spiritually and emotionally because we are conscious of and deliberate about our food and food choices.

Eating on a budget requires that one stay away from ready-made and processed foods, cook from scratch and shop sales. It requires a re-education or re-orientation of our priorities.

So, yes, not only can you eat on $4/day, you can eat well and healthy. The hunger in our nation is not a shortage of food or money, but of consciousness, morality and knowledge.

You're to be commended for your achievements, Mr. Chuck, but I think we should give the benefit of the doubt to people who struggle to feed their children. I, too, can eat on a budget of under $4 a day, but I'm also not a big eater; I don't require much food to stay attentive and operational and energetic. I have the benefits of biology and circumstance aiding me, and I recognize that fact. We all have factors in our lives that affect our circumstances, and it's nigh impossible to hold constant for all of them in any social experiment!

Thanks for posting, Kristen. This is a conversation that seems to come up every couple months here at good.is. Cory Booker recently did this for a week and got a lot of people talking about it in the process. Stay tuned here as next month is food month and we may be challenging folks to take this challenge.